When I saw that Audubon was hosting a contest for creating bird feeders out of milk cartons, I knew this was right up my alley. The contest is open to children 8-12 years old so LiL’E (2 years old) didn’t exactly qualify, but I knew we could do it as a fun weekend activity. Little did I know this was going to be quite the adventure!

I made the mistake of mentioning the project to my Mommy friend Meredith, and she started spouting out ideas left and right. Next thing I know, I am being challenged to a bird-off. I use that term loosely, mainly because it is something we made up in our heated debate over who could build the better bird feeder. Being the competitive person I am, I accepted the challenge and we laid some ground rules (after a little smack talk of course). Well, just two ground rules. Any ‘bedazzling’ had to be natural, i.e pine straw, acorns, etc. Second, we had to work on it with our kids and finish it in a weekend.

I think I should mention Meredith is an “outdoorsy” Mommy. You know, the ones that take their kids fishing and hiking on the weekends. I would say I am more of a “lets go get our nails done” kind of Mommy. I really should have taken that into account.

Supplies:
Milk Cartons of various sizes
Fishing Line or Twine
Natural Bedazzle (pine cones, straw, flowers)
Bird Seed

DAY ONE
Find milk cartons. You may think this is an easy task, but alas, you are mistaken. Neither Meredith nor I realized that milk doesn’t really come in cartons anymore, which is kind of sad. You can still get them in school lunches, but not so much in the run of the mill dairy department. You may have to use a juice carton, or a half and half carton. I did find a lovely six-pack of Tropicana orange juice cartons that came in handy. But beware: after the first juice carton, Lil’E became addicted and asked for “more OJ” for a week. Luckily I was being nice and gave her all the OJ she wanted for the sake of the project. I needed the cartons.

Cut feeder holes. Once again the Tropicana cartons were nice because the orange on the cover gave me the perfect template. I poked a hole to start the feeder entrance and then used scissors to widen the hole. This will definitely be a part of the project an adult needs to do or at least assist when doing with younger children.

Meredith took a different approach and cut squares for the birdseed to fall out onto the perch.

Assemble feeder. We used a multistory approach, which in a bird-off is essential. I got a text from Meredith the first night: “Packing tape became necessary.” I did not find out how true this was until the next day, but she was definitely correct. Any multistory milk carton feeder requires packing tape. Hot glue, super glue, any glue, does not work. Trust me. Plus, I found out later the glue is not good for the birds. This was the most tedious part of the whole project. I got very frustrated until I gave into the packing tape. I was determined to not use it but unless you are going super simple the cartons will not stay assembled. I literally had to walk away until the next day. Especially since up to this point, I was doing all the work and Lil’E was getting inpatient.

DAY TWO

Bedazzle. I really wanted to paint my bird feeder, but that can be tricky if not done right. If you want your children to decorate the feeder with non-toxic crayons, that is fine, but most kid friendly markers will not withstand weather, and some paints are toxic to the birds. Unfortunately, crayons were outside the bedazzling scope of the bird-off, so Lily and I set off to find natural pizazz. This was the part of the project Lily thrived at. She loved picking our pine cones, flowers, straw, sticks, and vines.

I built the roof and the platform by bundling several sticks together and I used vines to attach and hide (protect) the little bit of packing tape I had to use. I then secured the feeder to a platform and roof by using fishing line (twine works too). The rest of the time was spent placing the well picked flowers and pine cones Lil’E provided.

DAY THREE

Fill with birdseed, and hang. Gloat and send pictures to opposing team.

DAY FOUR

Realize your competitor made a way cooler bird feeder and you should be ashamed that you did not think of using pine cones as bark siding. Little did I know that she not only had the help of her 6 year old son and 2 year old daughter, but she had also enlisted the help of the 7 year old triplets next door. Wow. All I had was Lil’E and my husband telling me how hard this was actually going to be.

Tips if you are considering this activity:

• It can be a lot simpler. Cut a hole in the milk carton and hang with twine. Done.

• Remember to add a perch. Birds need a way to stand and eat.

• Gluing milk cartons together is really difficult and time consuming. Kids have to patience for this. Hence the packing tape. But make sure the packing tape is covered and will not injure the birds. Audubon recommends not using it, but as a real mom, I couldn’t found a way around it. Just make it safe for our feathered friends.

• Ask your kids to bring home their milk cartons for the week and see what you can build the following weekend, or ask friends and neighbors if they have any juice or creamer containers. It worked out for us, because we used the juice, but don’t buy something you are just going to dump down the drain. That defeats the point!

The finished pieces, as we referred to them:

Beauty

And the Beast

Tips from Meredith:

• Pine cone bark rocks. But beware it is tedious. I used hot glue to attach. It worked.

• The bottom of the house is a recycled shoebox lid.

• Packing tape is crucial.

You can tell who had a 2 year old daughter picking flowers and who had the 6 year old son saying make it bigger! At least we both got a little quality time with our kids during this family friendly activity. This was a great project once I got the cartons assembled. Lil’E talked about it for days after. And she has been pointing it out every morning as we leave the house.

Since Lil’E is too young to submit for the official Audubon contest, Stephaine and Meredith wanted to involve readers in their challenge. To vote for your favorite feeder, write “Beauty” or “Beast” on the ImpactDash Facebook wall, or tweet @ImpactDash. While Stephaine and Meredith are competing for bragging rights, voters will have a chance to win as well. A voter will be chosen at random to receive a copy of the documentary FLOW, an ImpactDash “Must Watch” film. (To qualify to win, voters must also like ImpactDash on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.)

To enter the Audubon “Build a Milk Carton Bird Feeder” contest, visit their site for official rules. Entries must be received by September 30th 2010, which is when Stephaine and Meredith will count votes as well.